Como Las Grecas are super excited to welcome SHAO to the site for a chat about music, life and his latest releases.
Can you tell us a little about your experience? Where are you from / how did you get into music?
My music background is alternative rock from 90’s, like Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, Blur, and a lot of other more underground bands from the 90’s, when I was in high school and college. I still love this kind of music now.
I had a band in my college days. But around 2002 when we graduated, we broke up. I wanted to continue making music, so I bought some gear like a Roland sampler, synth, soundcard and so on, and got some inspiration from German underground electronics, digital hardcore or Breakcore. It’s music that’s not especially easy to listen to, but I like it as it has that Punk spirit.
After that, I discovered a German label called Mille Plateaux, which has a very clean, very minimalist, very futurist sound. Yeah, these were my early influences.
Who have been your main inspirations (both musical and in «life»)? And how have they affected your sound?
I had a long relationship with a Chinese director in my early career, his name is Meng Jinghui, perhaps the most influential theatre director in China. I made the soundtrack and sound design for most of his plays. I think I learned a lot from this, for example how to control and balance the atmosphere in the show. I composed the soundtrack and played many many times live music at the shows. A ‘drama’ audience is very different from music fans. I put a lot of experimental sound in their “mainstream” shows, but in a way that was accessible to them.
It also had a positive influence that I took back into my own personal creative space in some ways. The effect of the light, the stage art, the relationship between the actor and the audience. I learned a lot from my daily practice, which fed into my personal live and DJ sets. For me, practice is the sole criterion for testing truth.
https://soundcloud.com/shaoyanpeng/shao-feat-www-eight-dreams
How would you define your sound?
I don’t know, it needs to speak to me first. If I can only choose one word, I think it would be spiritual.
What can you tell us about your last release? What inspired you? What did you want to convey?
The style of «Borderlands» is based on psychedelic and dreamy ambiance. It contains 8 experimental recordings of myself and guitarist Wang Wenwei from from 2019 to 2021.
The essence of the album «Eight Dreams» conveys the concept of «dream». The whole album strives to represent the abstraction and the passionate imagination of a «dream», presenting this innovative notion behind the album in an Oriental and Zen creative way.
What modern artists are you enjoying?
Actually a lot, like Nils Frahm, and some great Techno artists, but I’m Listening to early Oasis all the time in 2021, not kidding.
How are you living the current situation because of COVID? Has your work affected you a lot?
I think it gives me an opportunity to focus on the creativity, instead of busying myself with gigs.
What projects are you working on right now?
Working on the new album recently, and reorganizing the studio 🙂
Artist Social Links:
Ins: https://www.instagram.com/shaoyanpeng
FB: https://www.facebook.com/shaoyanpeng
SC: https://soundcloud.com/shaoyanpeng
Bandcamp: https://shaoyanpeng.bandcamp.com
RA: https://ra.co/dj/shao
www.shaoyanpeng.com
Label Social Links:
Ins: https://www.instagram.com/shaoyanpeng
FB: https://www.facebook.com/shaoyanpeng
SC: https://soundcloud.com/shaoyanpeng
Bandcamp: https://shaoyanpeng.bandcamp.com
RA: https://ra.co/dj/shao
www.shaoyanpeng.com
Sales / Pre-sales Link: https://shaoyanpeng.bandcamp.com/album/borderlands-eight-dreams
